Statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs, may be helpful in preventing serious complications of diabetes.

Statins are well known to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with type 2 diabetes, but researchers at the University Hospital of Copenhagen say statins also help protect against diabetic small blood vessel damage that leads to blindness and limb amputation..

Scientists say these results were somewhat unexpected..

“High blood glucose, the main symptom of diabetes, is associated with vascular damage.. And since statins are suspected of increasing glucose levels, we tested the hypothesis that statin use increases the risk of microvascular complications.. Surprisingly, our results showed that statins reduce rather than increase this risk,” explains study author Dr. Borge Nordestgaard, an expert in clinical biochemistry at Copenhagen University Hospital..

The results of the study, published in The Lancet Diabetes \u0026 Endocrinology, included data from Danish clinical registries of 60,000 patients with type 2 diabetes.. All patients were 40 years of age or older and were diagnosed with diabetes in 2009..

Researchers compared outcomes in more than 15,500 patients on statins with 47,000 controls who did not use statins..

After an average follow-up of 2.7 years, the analysis showed that diabetics taking statins were 34% less likely to suffer from diabetic nerve damage (neuropathy) and 40% less likely to have diabetic retinal disease (retinopathy). These patients have a 12% lower risk of gangrene compared to those who do not take statins..

The scientists noted that the risk of kidney damage in both groups was the same, and did not depend on the use of statins..

“We found no evidence that statins are associated with an increased risk of microvascular complications of diabetes.. Further research will need to confirm whether statins have a protective effect, as well as to determine the mechanisms that underlie this effect,” concluded study co-author Dr. Sune Nielsen (Sune Nielsen) in a news release..

The author of the accompanying article suggested a possible explanation for the discovered phenomenon..

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Another expert said the unexpected finding highlights the importance of learning more about statins.

“This only confirms that statins have numerous complex mechanisms of action and it is very important to do further research and not continue to speculate.. It is especially important that in the Danish population, which is more homogeneous than anywhere else on the planet, the results may differ from those obtained in other countries,” said Dr. Allison Reiss, head of the Inflammation Laboratory at the University Hospital.

medbe. en.